The website of writer Kelly J Baker

Cinderella: The Magic of Kindness

Published at Killing the Buddha on March 25, 2015.

As a child, I found these films comforting: a lesson that family might wound and harm you, but you could escape and find happiness elsewhere. I learned that you just had to bide your time. That you wouldn’t be a child forever. That escape was always possible because someone might intervene on your behalf. Kindness worked better for your own survival than your desired rebellion. Kindness didn’t draw attention and words from your (biological) father. It distracted him as you plotted how to get away.